by ryanalvarez

As expected, Woo Fest 2015 was incredible. Every spring the one night to remember is always the largest male talent show in the Riverside area, if not all of Southern California. And similar to the Halloween event last semester, I enjoyed the whole event even more as an organizer than I did as an observer. Let me tell you why.

By 5:30 p.m., all of the RAs on campus met at the Van Dyne gym to set up for the pre-party. A large white tent covered the grass outside of the gym with lights strung across the poles and tables lining the perimeter. Each table offered only the finest of delicious treats: buttered popcorn, cinnamon churros, crème sodas, candies, and milk and cookies. To top it all off, a s’more bar to the side offered gooey graham cracker goodness. I cooked popcorn all through the night and loved every second of it. From almost every living area, limousines chauffeured finely dressed students across campus to the gym to start the night off right. Woo Fest’s theme is traditionally fancy with a twist, this year being circus themed. A beautifully crafted circus elephant cake stood in the corner for students to take pictures with. Relaxing with classy music and soft lighting felt wonderful after a long week. Then the doors to the gym opened and the show began.

Excited, well-dressed students packed every seat in the gym leaving us RAs standing in the back just to accommodate maximum capacity. The show was worth it, too. The first act was a quartet with beatboxer who set a high standard for acts to follow. The rest followed suit with Michael Jackson arrangements, piano-driven love song medleys, and creative lip-syncing. The final act, though, was the RA men, and I was waiting to dance all night. I joined my fellow RAs for one last act, and the crowd loved it. I like to entertain so I didn’t hold back. Truly a night to remember.

Back in January I found a post on Instagram from the CBU Career Center advertising a career fair for Feb. 18. The post advertised that there would be various engineering companies present, so of course I became interested. Initially I hoped that no other engineers would hear about it in order to ensure my chances at an internship, but soon after the College of Engineering began aggressively advertising the event as well. Now with some healthy competition, I revised my resume countless times, bought special resume paper for pristine prints, and invested in a Fossil watch to compliment my suit coat. With a little gel in my hair, I walked into the Rec Center yesterday evening to meet the companies.

And there were plenty. Finely dressed students and friendly business representatives packed the recreational basketball area, passing out business cards and collecting resumes all around. I approached the area cautiously, although determined to make use of all 50 resumes in my newly purchased business pad folio. I approached the first table blindly, choking on my words, and staring awkwardly into the distance as I failed strike up any form of conversation with the representative. I knew that would happen eventually, but that table was Bourns Engineering, which recently donated $5.5 million to the CBU College of Engineering to construct a new engineering building. Striking out with my department’s largest partnership was a serious misstep, but after that encounter I felt motivated to not let it happen again. The conversations after that flowed much smoother. I made it my objective to make the representative laugh a little before ending it with my resume and a smile. I received positive feedback from several representatives, as well, which became a huge encouragement. I left the career fair with a pocket full of business cards and a motivated spirit. I don’t know where I’ll intern this summer, but the Career Center helped get me that much closer.

I am not one to reuse old ideas because they are easy, but when it comes to giving my residents what they want, I am open to suggestions. I took it upon myself to ask most of them what they would like to see in my next living area event, and most of them said the same thing: bring back the crepes. On my first mandatory meeting I cooked up crepes for everyone and served them with Nutella. Obviously that left a lasting impression on their taste buds. The second suggestion was smoothies, which I have never attempted, but felt ready to explore.

Now I care about my residents, so I wanted this event to be just right. I borrowed two blenders, bought frozen strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, mango, and bananas, and a new jar of Nutella just for the night. I laid out my smoothie and crepe bar, and even sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top for presentation.

My first residents arrived and immediately I remembered that I had no idea how to make smoothies. I tested with the berries and bananas for a bit before finding the perfect combination of blended fruit and orange juice. The blackberries added a stylish magenta to the blend while the bananas infused just the right amount of sweetness. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to place fruit in a container and press “blend.” They tasted amazing as well, and I repeated my procedure all through the night. The crepes held their own as well, and smears of Nutella can still be found around my living room. My French residents dropped in and approved of my methods. I wasn’t sure if anyone would have time half way through the week, but the night turned out just right.

The engineering major requires more time for studying and projects than most other majors offered here at CBU. Not to say it’s too difficult to handle, but there are a few tricks I’ve learned since arriving on campus almost three years ago. Some students simply study harder. Others email professors and meet during office hours. Some drink an unhealthy number of Red Bulls. My one suggestion, however, is both social, educational, and way more fun: tutoring.

For just about every difficult engineering course, the professor will hire an upperclassmen tutor to host group sessions once a week in the engineering building. Some lectures and homework assignments just seem downright impossible, which make these nights that much more necessary. There is definitely a culture built around attending tutoring nights with common phrases such as “let’s get dinner before Circuits tutoring” and “the tutor explained it to me so much better than the professor” passed around the halls. I took it upon myself sophomore year to pamper our Circuits II tutor with as much praise and affection as possible to make sure he would do his best. Some friends and I even bought him a pie at the end of the semester as a thank you. With as much love and respect these tutors receive, it’s no wonder I said yes when offered the position this semester.

My first night as the Data Structures tutor was last Monday, and I wanted to start things right. I came early to the classroom, reviewed my notes, and assumed role of smartest guy in the room. I remember taking that class last year and completely blanking out on the homework, but this time was the opposite. I answered their questions, joked around, and tried my hardest to ensure a sweet pie at the end of the semester. I enjoy helping people and giving presentations, too, so either way the night was a blast.

On February 19th will be one of the spring semester’s largest events: Woo Fest. Organized by Residence Life, Woo Fest is a male talent show in which every act attempts to, you guessed it, woo the ladies of CBU. As employees of the Residence Life office, RA’s are responsible for the majority of the preparation, but for right now the main focus is the tryouts. Only a handful of performances earn the right to perform in front of a crowd 1,500 CBU students, and this year will bring the best of the best. I’ve never joined the ranks of Woo Fest performer, but this year will be different.

Freshman year I grabbed my guitar and sang a cheesy acoustic love song for the judges, and, not surprisingly, they told to try again next year. Two years later my friend, Jericho Taetz, invited me to play guitar for his group that was trying out. His performance, however, is no simple four-chord guitar song. The group is a complete band with piano, drums, percussionist, two basses, a brass section and four singers. I’ve come a long way since those humble beginnings when I nervously auditioned by myself. The band sounds amazing, too, and performing “Life Could be a Dream” by the Coasters will bring some variety to the show.

Regardless how the audition turns out, the male RAs always end the show with one final routine. Last night we all practiced for the first time, and with a completely unbiased opinion, I have to say that you do not want to miss it. There will be dancing, lip-syncing and time travel. No male talent show would be complete without a little dancing. Hope to see you there.

Every Resident Advisor on campus works at least one night of the week in their communal living areas. Duty night, the coined term for such nights, is a 5-hour shift where the only task is to assist residents who walk in. These duties range from teaching students how to use the laundry machines to helping students who lock themselves out of their apartment to competing in heated matches of Settlers of Catan. Most nights involve plenty of comedy television and roommates stopping by to bother you, but some nights are a little more interesting. Last night would be an example.

My Tuesday duty night started off quiet, which I don’t mind really. I am still sending off internship applications, and Tuesday nights will be the ideal time to do just that. Two hours into the night, though, my back felt sore and I needed to stop revising cover letters. Luckily a resident walked in and asked if someone could light the fire pit by the barbecues. I jumped at that opportunity before any of the other RAs could and breathed in the crisp Riverside night air.

Now lighting the gas fire pit is literally as easy as 1-2-3. You unlock the latch, turn on the gas and light the pit. This time around should’ve been just as simple. As one of the few men on duty, the girls usually look to me for pyrotechnics, and I willingly accept that responsibility. It was cold out, though, and I wanted to light the fire pit as quick as possible. I unlocked the latch, turned on the gas, and placed the flame near the gas. The pit lit up quickly, but with a little more bursting flame than normal. I walked away a little dazed, and then smelled something crispy in the air. I checked eye brows, and felt relieved to see only my hair over my forehead singed a bit. The terrible smell stayed, but my face was OK, and I had something to laugh about for the rest of the night.

Starting a new semester is always hard, whether that means coming back from a break of three months or just three weeks. I woke up on the first day of classes wondering why I wasn’t sleeping in longer, why my backpack was organized and packed, and why my roommates were awake so early. Luckily, I pulled it together and passed through the week just fine. As an RA, though, I wanted my residents to be able to say the same thing. To do so, I hosted a little welcome back party last Wednesday.

Having just been in Peru for three weeks, I felt inspired to share that experience with my friends. I brought back Peruvian hot chocolate, which is boiled on the stove with milk, cinnamon sticks and cloves. With air turning colder now, I knew I could ring in at least a few chilled residents. The other Peruvian treat I had was panettone, a sweet bread traditionally eaten during Christmas and New Year’s. Basically I wanted to relive Christmas Eve with all of my friends, so I did. The final touch was the entertainment, and what better way to celebrate Peruvian culture than watching “The Emperor’s New Groove” on Netflix. No movie can remind me of my home country and crack me up quite like that Disney movie. I hosted the event on the first night of classes and had a good turnout. With no homework to hold people back, I figured that would be the best night. I cooked up as much hot chocolate as I could and it was gone before I knew it. I’m glad I could teach my friends about my culture and have a blast all in the same night.

I moved back onto CBU campus last Friday morning after having just flown in from Peru the night before. Naturally, I felt exhausted from a day of travel, but excited to start a new semester of engineering and Resident Advisor duties. This semester should play out much better than the last one, as well, for a few reasons.

The first is that my engineering classes will be fewer and more project oriented. For too long I have been cramming equations and analyzing diagrams without much opportunity to put that information to use. With Engineering Design and Documentation, all juniors in the engineering department will be designing and constructing separate projects based on their majors and professor’s decision. I don’t know what mine will be, but I’m sure I will find it much more enticing than solving the unilateral z-transform of a discrete time signals. Another hands-on class will be Microcontroller System Design, which involves less theory and more configuring of small digital and analog chips. After only the first day of class, I can tell that I will enjoy programming PSoC and Arduino microcontrollers.

The RA job will be a more relaxing experience as well. With a semester of experience under my belt, I no longer feel like the new guy figuring out how to plan events or handle situations. I have new residents, too, which means new and interesting people to meet. I am also a part of the Woo Week committee for Residence Life which will be our major spring event for the semester. Already I am psyched from all of the crazy ideas being thrown around by the group. No spring semester would be complete, though, without Intramural Soccer, and as a Global Village RA, I am sure I will have residents ready to play the sport I love.

It’s only day one of the semester, but I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.

This Thanksgiving break was unlike any other. I gave thanks for a much needed week away from college, but that didn’t give me a break from working. Productivity levels were at an all-time high, and I made the most of it.

The first task on my agenda involved soldering and software. For my Data Acquisition class, the requirements for our final group project was to create an application using a NI ELVIS II Breadboard, LabVIEW programming, and physical components. As a group of nerdy college students, of course we chose to make a video game complete with controller. Since the due date was a few days after break, we needed to finish it during the holiday. The Monday of break I drove back to campus and met up with my group members and we started engineering. I soldered the buttons, burned my fingers, soldered them again, and burned my other fingers. The others worked out the software, which involved much less burning of fingers. The game was a simple memory game, but that didn’t translate to simple coding. We designed and debugged software from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. I gave even more thanks that the day ended in success.

The other task was all about internships. The College of Engineering requires that all engineering majors complete an internship during the summer before their senior year. With a constantly revised resume and desire to graduate, I decided to start the process early. My plan was to apply to as many companies as possible and hope for the best, like throwing out a handful of seeds and only needing one to grow. And if they all do, even better. I applied to Intel, Broadcom, Garmin, Honeywell, Blizzard and even Disney Imagineering. Basically every website used the same internship application so I became quite efficient at the process. I actually became so familiar with the process that I would find companies and apply as a study break. I have applied to 18 companies so far. I might have a problem.

For juniors in the engineering program, the class intensity is high. Understandably, the professors want us to learn everything we can before entering into an internship next summer, but at times that is more than our minds can handle. Luckily for us, the College of Engineering is aware of this. To honor our achievements, and to help us relax before our finals and projects, there is the Engineering Rite of Passage.

Exclusively for the junior class, the Rite of Passage is the official acceptance ceremony into the Gordon and Jill Bourns College of Engineering. The change is subtle, but the encouragement is real.

Last Friday night I put on a tie and joined my fellow classmen in the Innovators Auditorium. Engineering faculty and students filled the room along with friends and family who came to enjoy the night with us. I found my parents and brother at a table talking with my Engineering Statistics professor, Dr. Kim, which continued throughout the night. I joked a little too freely about my complete lack of understanding in that class, but luckily Dr. Kim found that laughable as well.

The night started with the dean introducing a number of recently graduated alumni who spoke about their new life outside of CBU. An alumni from my major spoke about his job and trials in the work force, and that was just what I needed to hear. With all of my internship searching and resume revising, I’ve felt overwhelmed by my classes and responsibilities. Hearing from someone who has wrestled with the same circuit diagrams as me was exactly what I needed to hear for encouragement. If he can make it, so can I. All of the speakers gave a similar message, and I came away from that night with a new sense of motivation to keep striving on.